Want to slurp Canada's best oysters? Food critic Amy Rosen recommends a summer vacation in this province

Toronto Star

01-05-2025

Canadian Travel
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In Malpeque Bay, the water freezes over from December to late spring. During this time, the oysters hibernate, gathered together in mesh bags, snapping their shells shut for winter, much like the island itself. (While P.E.I. welcomes visitors year-round, some businesses operate seasonally.)
Come May, however, it's time to travel to Prince Edward Island — home to the country's best oysters owing to the crisp, clean, nutrient-rich water surrounding the province — and get slurping once again.
The island's history of oyster fishing dates back to the traditional harvesting practices of the Mi'kmaq but gained global fame only in 1900. That's when P.E.I. oysters travelled to the Exposition Universelle, a world's fair in Paris, where they were declared the tastiest in the land. Queen Victoria was apparently a huge fan.
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There was much celebrating in Charlottetown that year, but just over a decade later the majority of the island's oysters were killed off by disease. Those that survived were from Malpeque Bay and were used to seed the rest of the island. That's why, although they may boast names like Pickle Points and Avonlea Petites, all P.E.I. oysters — sweet, pure, briny — are considered Malpeques.
Oysters at the Inn at Bay Fortune. People travel to the island just to eat at the inn's restaurant, FireWorks.
Al Douglas Media
Tyne Valley, a tiny rural community on Malpeque Bay, with a population of around 225 and its own oyster festival every summer, is an especially delicious place to start your shellfish-themed P.E.I. tour.
At Valley Pearl Oysters, you can pull up a chair at Jeff Noye's oyster bar and restaurant, which he built by hand above the oyster processing plant overlooking the sparkling bay. Here, the champion shucker will assemble trays of the freshest oysters you'll ever have, just pulled from the shallows within view. You'll want to slurp them back as fast as he can shuck them, which is very fast indeed.
Elsewhere on the island, culinary tourists can follow easy-to-spot signs dotting the coastal routes — it's almost impossible to get lost. The North Cape Coastal Drive, for example, is known as the Canadian Oyster Coast, and during a leisurely drive you'll spot oysters on the roadside markers, directing you toward a shucking great road trip.
Chef Michael Smith, left, shucking during Oyster Hour at the Inn at Bay Fortune.
Al Douglas Media
For the finest-dining take on P.E.I. oysters, you'll have to plan ahead to snag a seat. People travel to the island just to eat at FireWorks, the extremely popular restaurant at the Inn at Bay Fortune. The FireWorks Feast, a singular farm-to-table experience held nightly in the summer and fall, includes a welcome toast by chef/proprietor Michael Smith that's like a prayer to the bounty and the night.
Then the Oyster Hour begins, with fresh shucked oysters, incredible ember-roasted oysters with lovage butter, hors d'oeuvres and cocktails in the garden. Your one task is leaving room for the multi-course, live-fire-cooked dinner that follows, served family-style inside.
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For a more casual (but no less delightful) setting, Brackley Bay Oyster Co. is also well worth a stop. At the small market/fishery, you can learn the history of local oysters while tasting the island's best bivalves on a plate, then visit postcard-perfect sites nearby, like Brackley Beach and Covehead Harbour Lighthouse in Prince Edward Island National Park.
The patio at Brackley Bay Oyster Co.
Brackley Bay Oyster Co.
Back in Charlottetown, more oysters await at the city's mollusk-forward restaurants, including Claddagh Oyster House and the iconic Water Prince Corner Shop and Lobster Pound. You can enjoy even more oysters at the Gahan House, along with the craft brewery's blueberry ale.
Through it all, you may squeeze countless lemon wedges, use a few shakes of hot sauce and perhaps even spoon on some mignonette sauce. But arguably the best way to eat fresh oysters on Prince Edward Island is to leave them raw, naked and unadulterated. Because when something is this pure and perfect, it needs nothing but an open mind and a big old slurp.
Come for the Food Fests
Taking place this summer from July 29 to Aug. 3, the Tyne Valley Oyster Festival includes the Canadian Oyster Shucking Championship, where the country's best shuckers vie to represent the country at a world competition.
Happening in Charlottetown from Sept. 18 to 21, the P.E.I. International Shellfish Festival is a massive celebration under a big tent. Expect shucking championships, an international chefs' challenge, live music, drinking and dancing till late and, yes, lots of oysters.
Amy Rosen is a Toronto-based food and travel writer and author of the upcoming novel ' Off Menu.' She travelled as a guest of Tourism PEI, which did not review or approve this article.
Clarification – May 1, 2025
This article was updated to clarify that P.E.I. is open to tourism year-round, and not closed for winter as the previous version implied.